Styling Images

Learn how to style images using CSS.

Rounded Images

Use the border-radius property to create rounded images:

				img {
  border-radius: 8px;
}

				img {
  border-radius: 50%;
}

Thumbnail Images

Use the border property to create thumbnail images.

				img {
  border: 1px solid #ddd;
  border-radius: 4px;
  padding: 5px;
  width: 150px;
}

<img src="paris.jpg" alt="Paris">

				img {
  border: 1px solid #ddd;
  border-radius: 4px;
  padding: 5px;
  width: 150px;
}

img:hover {
  box-shadow: 0 0 2px 1px rgba(0, 140, 186, 0.5);
}

<a href="paris.jpg">
  <img src="paris.jpg" alt="Paris">
</a>

Responsive Images

Responsive images will automatically adjust to fit the size of the screen.

If you want an image to scale down if it has to, but never scale up to be larger than its original size, add the following:

img {
  max-width: 100%;
  height: auto;
}

Tip: Read more about Responsive Web Design in our CSS RWD Tutorial.

Center an Image

To center an image, set left and right margin to auto and make it into a block element:

img {
  display: block;
  margin-left: auto;
  margin-right: auto;
  width: 50%;
}

Polaroid Images / Cards

div.polaroid {
  width: 80%;
  background-color: white;
  box-shadow: 0 4px 8px 0 rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2), 0 6px 20px 0 rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.19);
}

img {width: 100%}

div.container {
  text-align: center;
  padding: 10px 20px;
}

Transparent Image

The opacity property can take a value from 0.0 - 1.0. The lower value, the more transparent.

Note: IE8 and earlier use filter:alpha(opacity=x). The x can take a value from 0 - 100. A lower value makes the element more transparent.

img {
  opacity: 0.5;
  filter: alpha(opacity=50); /* For IE8 and earlier */
}

Image Filters

The CSS filter property adds visual effects (like blur and saturation) to an element.

Note: The filter property is not supported in Internet Explorer, Edge 12, or Safari 5.1 and earlier.

Example

Change the color of all images to black and white (100% gray):

img {
  -webkit-filter: grayscale(100%); /* Safari 6.0 - 9.0 */
  filter: grayscale(100%);
}

Tip: Go to our CSS filter Reference to learn more about CSS filters.

Flip an Image

img:hover {
  -webkit-transform: scaleX(-1);
  transform: scaleX(-1);
}

Responsive Image Gallery

CSS can be used to create image galleries. This example use media queries to re-arrange the images on different screen sizes.

.responsive {
  padding: 0 6px;
  float: left;
  width: 24.99999%;
}

@media only screen and (max-width: 700px){
  .responsive {
    width: 49.99999%;
    margin: 6px 0;
  }
}

@media only screen and (max-width: 500px){
  .responsive {
    width: 100%;
  }
}

Tip: Read more about Responsive Web Design in our CSS RWD Tutorial.

Image Modal (Advanced)

This is an example to demonstrate how CSS and JavaScript can work together.

First, use CSS to create a modal window (dialog box), and hide it by default.

Then, use a JavaScript to show the modal window and to display the image inside the modal, when a user clicks on the image:

// Get the modal
var modal = document.getElementById('myModal');

// Get the image and insert it inside the modal - use its "alt" text as a caption
var img = document.getElementById('myImg');
var modalImg = document.getElementById("img01");
var captionText = document.getElementById("caption");
img.onclick = function(){
  modal.style.display = "block";
  modalImg.src = this.src;
  captionText.innerHTML = this.alt;
}

// Get the <span> element that closes the modal
var span = document.getElementsByClassName("close")[0];

// When the user clicks on <span> (x), close the modal
span.onclick = function() { 
  modal.style.display = "none";
}